*Cashmere - Pashmina*

Cashmere and pashmina (i.e., wool) have become expressions of coveted fashion, elegance, and luxury in recent years (their first traces can be found as early as 3,500 years ago) and the rise of these products has been huge in the last 20 years.

Although both products come from the same goat growing two layers of hair, the average fibre diameter of generic cashmere varies between 12 and 21 microns, while pashmina means a material made up of fibres with a fineness of 11 to 16 microns.

This excellent heat-retaining and light fibrous material is formed in the lower layer of goat hair. The amount is 200-300 grams per individual per year for cashmere goats and 80-180 grams for pashmina. The former is produced in both flat and mountainous areas, while the latter requires a special mountain with a special climate (above 5000 m). The finest and best quality pashmina is produced by goats kept around the Himalayas.

In the thousands of years of history of cashmere wool production, it has developed based on goats kept in India, Kashmir, Nepal, Inner Asia, Mongolia, and Northwest China, but this product is already produced in Australia, New Zealand, and in other countries. About 70% of world production is produced in China (about 15,000 tonnes per year), 20% in Mongolia, and 10% in the other countries concerned. There are huge quality differences between the qualities of cashmere produced in various countries.

However, the huge demand caused by the increasingly "permissible luxury" has cost the environment. This goat accounts for the vast majority of China's goat population

**V**

of more than 122 million. Mongolia's originally seven million cashmere goat herds have grown from 7 to 27 million in the past two decades, with about 40% of the human population living on it. The huge increase in the goat population has caused significant environmental damage. About 70% of Mongolia's verdant lands have reached the brink of desertification due to overgrazing with goats - a population of 31 million sheep has caused almost negligible environmental damage compared to this. Government measures in China are trying to curb the phenomenon. There are also some government measures underway in Mongolia, but there is also an obstacle

In the *fifth chapter* of this volume, a summary analysis of the production and use of

Readers can find an evaluation of the production of the finest *pashmina* and its

In order to prevent further natural damage in the territory of one of the successor states of Yugoslavia, now called Northern Macedonia, goat farming was banned in 1947, with catastrophic consequences for the number of goats and the number of people living on this species. Overgrazing was blamed on the goat and not the fault of the people who kept it. This fundamentally wrong approach was discarded from 1989, when goat farming was re-authorized in the country. Since then, in addition to the development of remaining local breeds, the populations of the most important dairy breeds in the world (Alpine and Saanen) have developed in the country, as well as crossbred herds of local Balkan goats and imported goats.

As in many regions of the world, the main reason for keeping goats in this country is milk production, and the utilization of the resulting reproduction for meat plays a smaller role in the income of individual goat farms. The properties and values of the three main types of goat cheese developed in the country are evaluated by the

One of the most important topics in goat health is which *drugs* and which active *ingredients* can be used with sufficient effectiveness in the maintenance of health in goats. Many active ingredients are used in human medicine in addition to veterinary medicine, so the resistance of certain pathogens to certain active ingredients is and can be extremely important. This summary analysis includes almost everything you need to know about these active ingredients when treating goats. This subject is

It should also be noted that many active ingredients appear and, when used, are also found in milk, as a result of which they inadvertently enter the human body and may even cause an undesirable effect there. Moreover, some active substances may be stored in certain organs temporarily or even for a period of time, which requires due attention in the case of meat consumption if, for some reason, the individual to be used has been treated with an antibiotic. Therefore, it is highly recommended to use these useful active ingredients carefully! Care should be taken to avoid bottom and top dosing and to comply with mandatory health waiting periods and to avoid

here: the country's third largest export is cashmere wool.

*cashmere* wool can be read by those interested.

economics in the *sixth chapter* of the volume.

authors in this *seventh chapter*.

summarised in this *eighth chapter*.

their unjustified introduction into the human body.

*Health*

*Cheese quality*

of more than 122 million. Mongolia's originally seven million cashmere goat herds have grown from 7 to 27 million in the past two decades, with about 40% of the human population living on it. The huge increase in the goat population has caused significant environmental damage. About 70% of Mongolia's verdant lands have reached the brink of desertification due to overgrazing with goats - a population of 31 million sheep has caused almost negligible environmental damage compared to this. Government measures in China are trying to curb the phenomenon. There are also some government measures underway in Mongolia, but there is also an obstacle here: the country's third largest export is cashmere wool.

In the *fifth chapter* of this volume, a summary analysis of the production and use of *cashmere* wool can be read by those interested.

Readers can find an evaluation of the production of the finest *pashmina* and its economics in the *sixth chapter* of the volume.
